Newmont Mining Corporation, based in Denver, Colorado, is one of the world's largest producers of gold, with active mines in Nevada, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana, and Peru. Some smaller operations include Bolivia, Mexico, and Canada. Holdings include Battle Mountain Gold, Normandy Mining, and Franco-Nevada Corp. Newmont also has many joint venture relationships. As of Dec. 31, 2006, Newmont produced approximately 5.9 million equity ounces of gold annually and held reserves of about 94 million of those equity ounces. Production in the Americas accounts for about 70% of the company's equity ounces, but even so, Newmont is the largest gold mining company in Australia. Newmont employs approximately 15,000 people worldwide. Other metals that the company mines include copper and silver.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

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Operations

Nevada

Newmont has been mining gold in Nevada since 1965. Nevada operations include Carlin, located west of the city of Elko; the Twin Creeks mine, located approximately 15 miles north of Golconda; the Lone Tree Complex near the town of Valmy; and the Midas mine near the town of the same name. Newmont also participates in the Turquoise Ridge joint venture with Barrick, which utilizes mill capacity at Twin Creeks. The Phoenix gold/copper project, located 10 miles south of Battle Mountain, commenced commercial production in the fourth quarter of 2006. The Leeville underground mine, located on the Carlin Trend northwest of the Carlin East underground mine, also commenced commercial production in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Yanacocha, Peru

The properties of Minera Yanacocha S.R.L. (“Yanacocha”) are located approximately 375 miles (604 kilometers) north of Lima and 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Cajamarca, in Peru. Yanacocha began production in 1993. Newmont holds a 51.35% interest in Yanacocha with the remaining interest held by Compañia de Minas Buenaventura, S.A.A. (43.65%) and the International Finance Corporation (5%). Yanacocha’s gold sales for 2006 totaled 2.6 million ounces (1.3 million equity ounces).

Australia/New Zealand

Pajingo. Pajingo (100% owned) is an underground mine located approximately 93 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Townsville, Queensland, and 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of the local township of Charters Towers. In 2006, Pajingo sold 174,600 ounces of gold. The mine was sold off in late 2007.

Jundee. The Jundee operations (100% owned) is situated approximately 435 miles (700 kilometers) northeast of Perth in Western Australia. Jundee sold 305,400 ounces of gold in 2006.

Tanami. The Tanami operations (100% owned) include The Granites treatment plant and associated mining operations, which are located in the Northern Territory approximately 342 miles (550 kilometers) northeast of Alice Springs; and the Dead Bullock Soak mining operations, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of The Granites. The Tanami operations have been wholly-owned since April 2003, when Newmont acquired the minority interests.

Kalgoorlie. The Kalgoorlie operations comprise the Fimiston open pit (commonly referred to as the Super Pit) and Mt. Charlotte underground mine at Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 373 miles (600 kilometers) east of Perth. The mines are managed by Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines Pty Ltd for the joint venture owners, Newmont and Barrick, each of which holds a 50% interest. The Super Pit is Australia’s largest gold mine in terms of gold production and annual mining volume. During 2006, the Kalgoorlie operations sold 332,200 equity ounces of gold.

Martha. The Martha operations (100% owned) are located within the town of Waihi, located approximately 68 miles (110 kilometers) southeast of Auckland, New Zealand. During 2006, production commenced at the Favona underground deposit. Production at the Martha open pit will cease in 2007. The operation sold 120,300 ounces of gold during 2006.

Boddington. Boddington is a development project located 81 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Perth in Western Australia. As of Dec. 31, 2006, Boddington was owned by Newmont (66.67%) and AngloGold Ashanti Limited (33.33%). In March 2006, Newmont acquired Newcrest Mining Limited’s 22.22% interest in Boddington.

Batu Hijau, Indonesia

Batu Hijau is located on the island of Sumbawa, approximately 950 miles (1,529 kilometers) east of Jakarta. Batu Hijau is a large porphyry copper/gold deposit which Newmont discovered in 1990. Development and construction activities began in 1997 and start-up occurred in late 1999. In 2006, copper sales were 434.7 million pounds (229.9 million equity pounds), while gold sales were 435,300 ounces (230,200 equity ounces).

Newmont operates Batu Hijau, a producer of copper/gold concentrates, and has a 45% ownership interest therein, held through a partnership with an affiliate of Sumitomo Corporation. Newmont has a 56.25% interest in the partnership and the Sumitomo affiliate holds the remaining 43.75%.

Ghana

The Ahafo operation (100% owned) is located in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana, approximately 180 miles (290 kilometers) northwest of Accra. Ahafo poured its first gold on July 18, 2006, and commenced commercial production in August 2006. Ahafo sold 202,000 ounces of gold in 2006.

Newmont currently operates two open pits at Ahafo with total reserves contained in 15 pits. Ahafo reserves as of Dec. 31, 2006, were 12.6 million equity ounces.

Other Operations

Canada. Golden Giant (100% owned) is located approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Marathon in Ontario, and has been in production since 1985. Mining operations at Golden Giant were completed in December 2005 with remnant mining and milling production continuing throughout most of 2006. In 2006, Golden Giant sold 59,300 ounces of gold.

Mexico. Newmont has a 44% interest in La Herradura, which is located in Mexico’s Sonora desert. La Herradura is operated by Industriales Peñoles (which owns the remaining 56% interest) and comprises an open pit operation with run-of-mine heap leach processing. La Herradura sold 79,200 equity ounces of gold in 2006.

Bolivia. The Kori Kollo open pit mine is on a high plain in northwestern Bolivia near Oruro, on government mining concessions issued to a Bolivian corporation, Empresa Minera Inti Raymi (“Inti Raymi”), in which Newmont has an 88% interest. Inti Raymi owns and operates the mine. In 2006, the mine sold 113,300 equity ounces of gold.

Minahasa, Indonesia. Newmont owns 80% of Minahasa, and the remaining 20% interest is a carried interest held by P.T. Tanjung Serapung, an unrelated Indonesian company. Minahasa is located on the island of Sulawesi, approximately 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) northeast of Jakarta. Mining was completed in late 2001 and gold production was completed in 2004.

Controversies

Twin Creeks mine

The Twin Creeks mine in Golconda, NV is ranked as of 2002 by the EPA as the second highest environmental polluter in the United States.[1]

Lone Tree mine

The Lone Tree mine in Valmy, NV is ranked as of 2002 by the EPA as the sixth highest environmental polluter in the United States. [2]

Carlin South Area mine

The Carlin South Area mine in Carlin, NV is ranked as of 2002 as the seventh highest environmental polluter in the United States. [3]

Yanacocha mine

The Yanacocha gold mine in northern Peru is considered one of the largest and most profitable in the world, producing over $7 billion worth of gold to date. Before 1994, the mine was co-owned by Newmont, Buenaventura (a Peruvian mining company), and Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), a French government-owned company. This partnership collapsed in 1994 after BRGM tried to sell part of its shares in the company to an Australian company which was a rival of Newmont. Newmont and Buenaventura would both go to court to challenge the trade.

Larry Kurlander, then a senior executive at Newmont, claimed the French President Jacques Chirac had sent a letter to then Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori asking him to intervene in the court case in favor of the French owned company. Kurlander had been sent by Newmont to Peru in order to try and get a favorable outcome for Newmont in the dispute. The legal battle would eventually make it all the way up to the Peruvian Supreme Court.

During this period, Kurlander acknowledged having met with Vladimiro Montesinos, the Peruvian intelligence chief who has since been found guilty of embezzlement, illegally assuming his post as intelligence chief, abuse of power, influence peddling, and bribing TV stations. [4][5] However, Kurlander claims that he did nothing illegal and that the French government were taking similar steps in trying to contact Montesinos. The French ambassador to Peru Antoine Blanca denies this, pointing to the fact that Montesinos was on the CIA payroll and thus would naturally side with the U.S-based company.

After the fall of Fujimori in 2000 a number of videos Montesinos had taped of himself meeting with several domestic and foreign leaders and offering bribes and accepting them had emerged. In October 2005, Frontline, in co-production with the New York Times, found a Feb. 1998 recording of a telephone conversation between Montesinos and Kurlander, as well as several videos showing Kurlander speaking with a CIA station chief, as well as a friend who sat on the Peruvian Supreme Court, Jaime Beltran Quiroga. The videos seemingly implicated Kurlander in using these connections to influence the court case; Quiroga later cast the deciding vote on the Supreme Court in favor of Newmont.[6]

Buyat Bay, Indonesia

In Aug. 2004, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment filed a $133.6 million civil lawsuit against Newmont, claiming tailings from the company's Minahasa Raya mine polluted Buyat Bay in the North Sulawesi province, contaminating local fish stocks and causing nearby villagers to become seriously ill. Newmont denied the allegations, arguing that the illnesses had more to do with poor hygiene and poverty. On Nov. 15, 2005, a South Jakarta court dismissed the suit on technical grounds, saying the government had breached the terms of its contract with Newmont when it took legal action before seeking arbitration. Environmentalists urged for the suit to be appealed, but on Dec. 1, 2005, Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said the government expected to reach an out-of-court settlement with Newmont's local subsidiary. On Feb. 16, 2006, the Indonesian government announced it would settle the civil suit for US$30 million to be paid over the next 10 years. The agreement also includes increased scientific monitoring and enhanced community development programs for the North Sulawesi province.

With the civil lawsuit settled, attention focused on criminal charges against President Director Richard Ness. In December 2006, Newmont Mining Corp. objected to a documentary entitled "Bye Bye Buyat" being nominated for Indonesia's top film award. The company said that it interfered with Ness' ongoing trial.[3]

After a 21-month trial—one of the longest proceedings in Indonesian history—Ness was found innocent of the pollution charges on April 24, 2007.[4] The court found that the company was in compliance with all regulations and permits during its operations at the site, and failed to find evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Nemont's subsidiary had polluted Buyat Bay.[4]

A week after being found not guilty of criminal charges, Richard Ness sued the New York Times in Indonesian court for libel. The lawsuit asked for nearly $65 million in damages, and that the New York Times print a page-one retraction of previously published articles.[5]